This article evaluates the performance of individuals with cerebral palsy (CP) using an inertial human–computer interface (HCI) based on head movements and a novel facilitation algorithm which we named MouseField. In total, 17 participants from three centers specialized in CP participated in a series of tests that evaluated rapidity and accuracy in pointing tasks using a head mouse named ENLAZA, with and without MouseField. Cluster analysis was used to classify the participants into three categories, C1–C3 ordered by throughput. MouseField improved rapidity in C2 and C3 and accuracy in C3. Although the accuracy of the least impaired (C1, MACS IV–V) decreased, MouseField improved task performance of users with severe motor disorders (MACS V), with decrements of 33.3 and 65.5% in the task execution time. The results show that severely impaired individuals who cannot use traditional input devices could benefit from using MouseField and ENLAZA for a facilitated navigation that minimizes targeting errors.

Cerebral Palsy (CP) is a disorder of posture and movement due to an imperfection or lesion in the immature brain. CP is often associated to sensory deficits, cognition impairments, communication and motor disabilities, behaviour issues, seizure disorder, pain and secondary musculoskeletal problems. New strategies are needed to help to promote, maintain, and rehabilitate the functional capacity, and thereby diminish the dedication and assistance required and the economical demands that this condition represents for the patient, the caregivers and the whole society. This paper describes the conceptualization and development of the integrated CPWalker robotic platform to support novel therapies for CP rehabilitation. This platform (Smart Walker + exoskeleton) is controlled by a multimodal interface to establish the interaction of CP children with robot-based therapies. The objective of these therapies is to improve the physical skills of children with CP and similar disorders. CPWalker concept will promote the earlier incorporation of CP patients to the rehabilitation therapy and increase the level of intensity and frequency of the exercises according to the task, which will enable the maintenance of therapeutic methods in daily basis, with the intention to lead to significant improvements in the treatment outcome.

The computer is considered a very useful tool for physical and cognitive rehabilitation. However, people with disabilities have limitations to control properly conventional user interfaces because of their motor diseases. This paper is in the framework of a project to create an alternative computer interface, especially addressed to children with Cerebral Palsy (CP). The interface is a head mouse based on inertial technology. Although the inertial interface succeeds as mouse pointer for healthy users, children with CP have involuntary movements, such as spasms or tremor, which limit the control. In this paper, the inertial interface is used to analyze the pathological patterns of three children with CP (hypertonic-athetoid, hypertonic-dystonic and hypotonic-athetoid cases) in terms of kinematic parameters and spectral analysis of the pathological motion. Finally, two filtering techniques are designed and evaluated to reduce the effects of the involuntary motion and improve the accessibility of the interface as mouse pointer.